Evaluation of herbaceous plants for attractiveness to bumble bees for use near cranberry farms
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Published source details
Patten K., Shanks C.H. & Mayer D.F. (1993) Evaluation of herbaceous plants for attractiveness to bumble bees for use near cranberry farms. Journal of Apicultural Research, 32, 73-79.
Published source details Patten K., Shanks C.H. & Mayer D.F. (1993) Evaluation of herbaceous plants for attractiveness to bumble bees for use near cranberry farms. Journal of Apicultural Research, 32, 73-79.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Plant dedicated floral resources on farmland Action Link |
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Plant dedicated floral resources on farmland
Patten et al. (1993) planted four 1.2 x 1.8 m plots of each of 17 flowering species next to commercial cranberry Vaccinium macrocarpon bogs in Washington State, USA. Five plant species attracted more than 30 bees/plot/count on average: catmint Nepeta mussini, borage Borago officinalis, phacelia, anise hyssop Agastache foeniculum and Korean mint A. rugosa. Short-tongued bumblebee species Bombus mixtus, B. occidentalis and B. sitkensis (cranberry pollinators) strongly preferred three plant species: bird's-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus, Korean mint and anise hyssop (averages of 17, 23 and 19 bees/plot/count respectively) but did not visit borage or phacelia much (averages of 1 and 5 short-tongued bees/plot/count, respectively). Two long-tongued species, the Californian bumblebee B. californicus and B. caliginosus visited borage and phacelia in large numbers (>70 bees/plot/count).
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